Marathon Pundit: Junior's fall and Issac's rise

I know some conservatives who live in Illinois' Gerrymandered 2nd District who are wondering if the Rev. Isaac Hayes, the Republican nominee in Illinois' 2nd Congressional District, is for real.

He is.

That's Isaac speaking at the Anti-Shorebank Tea Party. Joel Pollak, the GOP nominee in Illinois' 9th is cheering him on.

Now is the time to boot out the not-so surreptitious Rod Blagojevich fundraiser with the bikini-model girlfriend. Junior's fall can mean Isaac's rise.

The Chicago Tribune's John Kass interviewed the increasingly popular South Sider, who would be Chicago's first black Republican congressman since Oscar DePriest over 70 years's ago if he accomplishes what was considered impossible just a few months ago.

Hayes didn't grow up with money and clout. He attended public schools. His father was, and still is, a minister at the Indiana Avenue Pentecostal Church.

"It started with the social issues," he said of his conversion to conservatism. "I'm pro-life, and I believe marriage should be between one man and one woman. But as you think in terms of family, and what weakens it, you start thinking in terms of economic and education policy."

Hayes argues for education vouchers to free children trapped in dysfunctional inner-city schools and tax cuts to stimulate jobs. Clearly, such talk threatens big-government Democrats whose power depends on keeping low-income African-Americans as dependent clients.

"You ask how I became conservative?" Hayes said. "You minister to a 14-year-old boy in jail, and he's telling you that he has to get out so he can take care of his child. We've got to fundamentally change what's going on in the cities. And it starts when African-Americans stop giving away their votes and being taken for granted."